Aide denies BC Rail bid rigged

Premier Gordon Campbell's chief of staff has repeatedly denied suggestions that the leader of the Liberal party decided to sell BC Rail to CN Rail before a public bidding process even began.

Martyn Brown called the allegation by a defence lawyer "preposterous" during testimony Thursday at a political corruption trial in B.C. Supreme Court.

"Was there a decision communicated by Gordon Campbell to sell all the assets of BC Rail within five years of getting elected?" Kevin McCullough asked Brown.

"I think that's preposterous," Brown said on his fifth day on the stand.

"To suggest that Gordon Campbell said that's going to happen, and that was directed to somebody, is not at all what I believe was the case," he said.

Brown has repeatedly denied accusations "the fix was in" for Campbell to sell the rail line to political supporters.

But McCullough, who is representing one of three government employees accused in the case, alleged Brown had several conversations with his McCullough's, Bobby Virk, about the politically hot manoeuvres involving the 2003 privatization sale of BC Rail.

"You told Mr. Virk that CN was getting the rail line, that was clear, you told him that was a decision of Gordon Campbell," McCullough said.

"No, wrong," Brown replied.

"You told Mr. Virk that the appointments to the board of BC Rail were appointments of Liberal supporters and people that were going to make this happen," McCullough said.

"That's not true," Brown said. "That's not at all what happened."

Private meeting alleged

Brown said he advised the premier on the sale of BC Rail and knew it was $800 million in debt, but wasn't aware the line made operating profits every year between 1978 and 2000.

McCullough alleged that while the public was told BC Rail had incurred millions of dollars in debt, the money was actually written off as assets. He said the debt had accrued partly from failed rail lines built by previous governments.

Brown also denied knowing the premier had a private meeting with several men interested in the sale on an island on B.C.'s southern coast in the fall 2003, just before CN was announced as the winning bidder.

Brown said that was the first time he'd heard that CN Rail executive David McLean, Rocky Mountaineer CEO Peter Armstrong and deputy minister Ken Dobell allegedly gathered on Savary Island.

But he noted he didn't consider it a conflict of interest for his boss to meet with those people in the midst of the bidding process.

Virk and co-accused Dave Basi, both former ministerial aides, are charged with fraud and breach of trust related to the $1-billion sale of BC Rail to CN Rail, while Basi's cousin Aneal is charged with money laundering.

The Crown alleges Virk and Dave Basi traded government secrets in exchange for bribes from a lobbyist for one of three companies bidding for BC Rail.

The sale was controversial because the Liberals promised during the 2001 election campaign that BC Rail wouldn't be sold.